Acceptable To: Standard Pattern
Acceptable To: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than turning one attested complement into a universal prohibition.
Use “acceptable to” before the person or group whose approval or agreement matters.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Context | Use | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| approval/agreement by a person | acceptable to + person | Use “to” before the person whose acceptance matters. |
| approval/agreement by a group or authority | acceptable to + group | Use “to” before the relevant audience or decision-maker. |
| fitness for a purpose or another construction | check that use separately | Do not turn this documented pattern into a ban on other valid complements of “acceptable.” |
Quick tests
Decision test
Are you naming the person or group whose approval or agreement matters?
If yes: Use “acceptable to.”
If no: If you are describing a different relationship, check that construction separately.
Caveat: This page establishes the person/group complement pattern only; it does not claim “to” is the only possible complement in every sense.
Examples
The revised date is acceptable to both teams.
“To” introduces the groups whose agreement matters.
The terms were acceptable to the client.
The person or party giving approval follows “to.”
The proposal must be acceptable to the committee.
A decision-making group can follow the preposition.
Further guidance
Construction
Use “acceptable to” before the person or group whose approval or agreement matters.
Style Boundary
Cambridge directly attests “acceptable to”; this page stays limited to that construction and does not imply that every acceptable-context complement uses “to”.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Acceptable — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Direct learner-dictionary evidence for the adjective construction “acceptable to” meaning satisfactory or able to be agreed to by a person or group.